


with friends like these, anywhere is home

by orphan_account



Category: Griefer Belt (Webcomic)
Genre: Gen, this is the most self indulgent thing i've ever written
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-18 19:07:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5939896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seong has never quite fulfilled all of the requirements to properly celebrate Seollal in a long time, but he thinks that maybe, he might just be getting closer to it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	with friends like these, anywhere is home

**Author's Note:**

> THIS IS SO, SELF INDULGENT,,,,, ,, i wrote this in like an hour and it's messy and unproofread rip but i just,,, needed 2 write lunar new year's fic because boy oh boy do i love lunar new year's and easian characters and easian characters celebrating new years
> 
> [points to seong] love that seong
> 
> work title is from another night on mars by the maine

“Hey, you’ve been kind of quiet today. Are you ok?” 

Seong looks up from the passenger seat of the car to find Jemma’s gaze on him, the genuine concern in her eyes taking him off guard. He shrugs and shuffles upwards on the seat from when he had been slumping earlier.

“I’m fine.” He responds, any urge to continue the conversation lost. Jemma pauses at first, but takes the hint and turns back to the steering wheel with a frown, leaving Seong to stare out the window with a sullen look.

As the lights turn green and their car sets off again, Jemma casts another quick look over at Seong and says in a reassuring tone “Well, we’re almost at the dropoff point, so we can head home soon.”

Since her eyes are on the road, she misses the way Seong’s mouth pulls down at the word  _ home _ .

* * *

There’s a knock on Seong’s apartment door, and he considers ignoring it for several long moments, enough to warrant an abandoning of the attempt from the person on the other side of the door, before another series of knocks sound out.

Sighing and pulling himself off of the couch, he walks towards the door and pulls it open.

Lars stands in the doorway with a bright expression, a weary looking Scott standing slightly behind him, and Seong has the strong urge to slam the door shut on them.

Lars steps a foot inside and the chance is lost, so Seong sighs again and motions for them to come in. Lars grins triumphantly, while Scott continues to look tired. Seong meets the blonde’s eyes, and the two share a moment of mutual understanding as Lars waltzes into Seong’s apartment like he owns the place, which, Seong thinks, could be argued for.

“So,” Lars says, throwing an arm over Seong’s shoulder after his lap of the living room, “a little bird told me that somebody was being a downer today.” Seong accepts the embrace with an irritated grunt and looks over at Scott, who mouths  _ Addie _ at him. Seong reasons that Jemma had probably told Addie with a resigned nod.

“And of course, being the stellar boss I am, I decided to come over and cheer him up. Do you have any idea who that somebody would be?”

Seong rolls his eyes. Lars frowns and turns him around so he’s facing the older man, jabbing a finger at Seong’s chest.

“You. So, tell me, what’s up?”

Seong bats away the hand at his chest with a scowl and shakes his head. “It’s nothing.”

Lars puts his hands on his hips and frowns down at Seong, who looks away from Lars, instead focusing on the clock on the wall. They stay in that stalemate for a while, before Seong decides to remove himself from the staredown completely. Backing away from Lars, he moves towards his couch and sits down, folding his arms in the same motion.

“Scott,” Lars sighs while moving towards the other man, “what is one to do when his cute subordinate won’t talk to him about why he’s upset?” Scott shrugs, prompting to Lars give Scott a meaningful look.

Scott blinks slowly. 

“Give him some space?”

Lars rolls his eyes. 

“I  _ guess _ ,” he says with a sigh, before looking over at Seong, “if that’s what he wants.” The look Lars gives Seong is filled with proper concern this time, an unvoiced question, and Seong feels bad enough to shake his head.

“It’s fine. You guys can stay, sorry.” He hesitates then, under the gently questioning gazes of the two, before adding “It’s just a special day.”

Lars looks over at Scott, who has the same subtle confusion on his face. Seong thinks he can almost see them running through notable dates in their head, going past birthday or anniversary, and wonders if they’ll get it.

The thought almost makes him smile.

Then, Scott’s features change, and he says with hesitation “Lunar New Year's?” like it’s a question, a request for permission.

Seong stares at him, bewildered, and Scott stares right back with an unsure look.

Seong remembers himself, and shaking his head slightly, he says “Yeah. Seollal eve.”

It takes them awhile as they figure out the general connotations of a new year’s eve, but soon both of their expressions morph into something almost piteous, and it’s the thing Seong wanted to see least today.

“It’s fine, I haven’t done anything for it in the past few years anyway. It’s more of a family thing, and I don’t really have any relatives around.” He explains with palms upturned.

Their expressions only deepen at this, and Seong steels himself for whatever Lars is thinking as the man walks towards him.

“Do you want to go out tonight? We can probably find some place that celebrating it!” Lars says brightly, trying to change up the mood of the room. Seong appreciates the effort but shakes his head, ignoring the hand that reaches out slightly for him.

“Seollal isn’t celebrated as much, and I’m not really familiar with the Korean community around here anyway. Plus, I don’t have a hanbok.”

Lars frowns, at Seong and at the hand Seong had pushed aside, but continues trying.

“We can go out and buy one then?” Lars suggests, insistent.

Seong shakes his head and gives an exasperated sigh. “Where are you going to find one, especially on New Year’s eve?”

Despite being rebuffed, Lars perks up even more at the reaction elicited from Seong. As Lars thinks of other things the three of them could do, Scott moves from his position near the doorway, coming to sit down beside Seong.

Seong stares at the man beside him with slight alarm. Scott sits up straight on the couch, staring dead ahead, and when he proceeds to make no hostile moves Seong relaxes back into his seat, fully aware of Lars’ too pleased expression.

Clapping his hands together, Lars asks “Well then Scott, what should we do?” He still looks much too happy at the sight of Seong and Scott sitting together on the couch and Seong almost glares at him. 

Scott shrugs and looks over at the clock on Seong’s wall, showing  _ 7:14. _

“We can just stay inside, and you can go get some takeout or something. Maybe buy some firecrackers along the way, we can set them off on the balcony when it gets dark.”

Lars is surprised enough at how well put together the plan is to not notice how he was put on firecracker duty until a delay later, half yelling a protest.

“Wait! Why am I getting the firecrackers and food?”

Scott shrugs, finally breaking his formal pose and leaning back on the couch.

“I don’t trust you to not jump either of us if the other leaves.” Scott says, matter of factly. Beside him, Seong snorts, putting a hand to his mouth to conceal his laughter.

Lars groans, hiding how delighted he is at the positive reaction from Seong. Grabbing his jacket and car keys from the kitchen bench, he grumbles about how mean Scott is to the continued amusement of both Seong and Scott. He stomps back over to stand in front of the couch with a pout, asking what the two wanted for dinner with an exaggerated sigh.

Seong, now past the initial humour of the situation, bites his lip before shaking his head at the question.

Lars and Scott both turn to him, question unspoken but hanging in the air.

“It’s ok, you don’t have to get anything. If you want, you can leave. I’ll be fine by myself.” He murmurs, not making eye contact with either of them.

Lars walks towards Seong, and before Seong can properly process it, Lars is grabbing him by the chin and bringing his head up to meet Lars’ eyes.

“We’re staying. You’re supposed to spend new year’s with your family, and since you don’t have any here, we’re the next best thing.” Lars says, almost decrees, and Seong nods with wide eyes.

“If you want, we can be your family now.”

Lars’ expression is serious, and if Seong looks out of the corner of his eye, he can see a matching one on Scott’s face. He spends a few seconds or so being shocked, unsure of what to do under the pressure of their gazes, before what Lars said sets in fully.

Then, he’s blushing, turning his head away from both of them and mumbling out “Well, you can stay if you really want, I guess.”

Lars laughs, lightening the mood of the room instantly. Seong works around his burning cheeks long enough to catch Scott’s expression as well, pulled into a wry smile as Lars declares that he’s getting them all pizza.

Scott catches Seong’s eye and his smile softens into something sweeter, and while Seong can feel the burn in his cheeks increasing, he smiles back.


End file.
